Popular Sterling Police Department officer leaving for Loveland

Sgt. Warren Sica will miss Sterling, but looks forward to challenges of bigger city

Sgt. Warren Sica works at his desk in the Sterling Police Department. After nearly 10 years with the SPD, Sica is leaving to take a job with the Loveland Police Department. (Sara Waite / Sterling Journal-Advocate)

Farewell to Sgt. Sica

The Sterling community has two opportunities to say good-bye to Sgt. Warren Sica as he prepares to take a new job in Loveland.

Community Open House

When: 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 31

Where: Knights of Columbus Hall, 421 S. 11th Ave., Sterling

More info: Contact Samantha, 970-466-1986, or Kelly, 970-580-6422

City of Sterling Reception

When: 3-5 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 2; presentation at 3:30 p.m.

Where: Sterling Public Library community room

Sgt. Warren Sica of the Sterling Police Department took a roundabout route to his career in law enforcement.

Born and raised in New Jersey, Sica came to Colorado in 2001. His career patch included a stint in the front office for the Colorado Springs Sky Sox, working for a sporting goods retailer and teaching math and social studies. He joined the SPD in 2006, but it wasn't technically his first job in law enforcement — he also spend a season as a park ranger at Lake Pueblo State Park, which he called "an awesome experience."

Sica said he was actually encouraged years ago by a campus officer from Rutgers University to go into law enforcement, and he wishes he had taken that advice sooner. "It's the best job I've ever had," he said.

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In his nearly 10 years with the SPD, Sica said there's a lot he's been proud of. That includes eight years with the Cops and Kids program that brings officers into local elementary schools to interact with the students. The last five or six years, he's been the primary officer on the program, and "That's the thing I get the most joy out of," he said.

"I like taking bad guys to jail," he added, "but that takes a distant second to this."

Sica said he considers all of the students he interacts with through the program his kids, and it has been fun for him to see those he began working with as elementary students go onto high school.

It's the connection he's made with those kids that is one of the factors that weighs heavily on him about his decision to take a new position with the Loveland Police Department. He's heard from students and teachers, as well as other community members, that they are sad to see him go.

But that feedback also tells him that he's been doing his job well. "If it were easy to say 'forget about it,' I haven't done a good job," he said.

Another program in which Sica has played an instrumental role is the Neighborhood Watch, which he has revitalized and expanded. Sica said he's glad to see community members take ownership of what is happening around them because "we can't be everywhere."

He's served as defensive tactics instructor, training officers on arrest control. That role presents a challenge in working with long-time officers, making his presentation new and informative, as well as teaching new officers the skills they need. Sica has also been a member of the department's Tactical Action and Control (TAC) team since 2006 and assisted other agencies.

Serving in law enforcement has broadened Sica's definition of what is normal or routine, but he notes that in general, officers have contact with people on the worst days of their lives. "We see things no one is prepared for," he said. "But we have a job to do."

It can be a thankless job, he added, but he and his fellow officers are going to do the job anyway. Sica said that the oath of office and the officer's code are very important to him.

Sica said he feels that the SPD does a good job of training and preparing its officers, and he has had many opportunities through his career in Sterling. Now he is looking forward to taking the preparation and experiences he's gotten through the SPD and applying them in a larger city. He said Sterling experiences all of the same things a big city does, albeit on a smaller scale, and he feels like he is well prepared for that.

But it is definitely hard to leave the community he has called home for the last 10 years, including all of the "fantastic" people who make up the SPD, as well as his church family at St. Anthony Catholic Church. He said he's been fortunate to find a home next to a church in Loveland, but he expects it will take time to develop the same deep level of trust with his new co-workers in the larger Loveland department that he has now with his fellow Sterling officers.

Sica said he is humbled and appreciative of the comments he's gotten about his upcoming departure, and it gives him "a little pride that I've been doing something right." He said tries to have fun with his job while getting serious when he needs to be, and it's important to him "to treat others the way I'd want to be treated" and to be available to anyone who needs his help.

He plans to take that same mind set to his new job, where he hopes to continue to ensure that people see him and his fellow officers "as more than a uniform and a badge."

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